Washington Wizards

Are the Wizards tanking or contending for a division title? In the Southeast, it’s possible to do both at the same time. Washington is 20–26 but just a couple of games out of first place.

The Wizards have used a 7–3 stretch to get back into things, by which I mean the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. They beat up on the Pistons at home on Monday and have been off since then.

They won’t go into this game particularly rested, though, after hosting Golden State on Thursday before getting on a plane and flying down to Orlando.

Washington and Orlando have so far split two games, each time the home team winning. Both of those games were played within a week span in mid-November.

John Wall played 42 minutes in Orlando, got seven rebounds, dished out 12 assists with just three turnovers and scored 19 points. Washington will give a different look this time around with Tomas Satoransky playing most of the minutes at point guard.

The rumors are swirling around Otto Porter Jr. and the Wizards must make a decision soon on whether or not to trade him. The Trade Deadline is on Feb. 7.

Orlando Magic

Orlando won that game on Nov. 9 by nine, despite Wall’s strong showing. Seven Magic players scored in double-figures and, as a team, Orlando shot 13-for-31 from deep and won both the offensive rebounding and turnover battles.

The Magic just finished up back-to-back road games against Eastern Conference opponents. It beat Atlanta on Monday and lost a close one to Brooklyn on Wednesday.

Orlando has been awful for a long time but this team actually plays at a respectable level. The Magic can still get sloppy on offense but, generally, things flow freely and it can actually be one of the better units, in the East, at least, when shots are falling.

On the season, the team has just about two assists to every turnover. They went 29 and eight on Monday against Atlanta.

Aaron Gordon was questionable on Wednesday against Brooklyn but did play, although for only 25 fairly ineffective minutes. Nikola Vucevic, who very well may be named a first-time All-Star soon, led the way with 23 and 14.

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